Archived:Setup a RAID Array in Windows XP or Windows 2000

How do I setup a RAID Array within Windows XP or Windows 2000?

There are two basic types of RAID configurations, RAID 0 or "striped" and RAID 1 or "mirrored". To create a RAID 0 or striped configuration:

1. Navigate toStart>>Control Panel>>Administrative Tools>>Computer Management.
2. Open the navigation tree on the left-hand side to Storage>>Disk Management. You should see something similar to the next screen.

3. Select Disk 1 by left-Clicking on the left label. 
4. Right-click on Disk 1 and select Initialize Disk.
5. In the Computer Management window, right-click on either Disk 0 or Disk 1 and select Convert to Dynamic Disk….

6. Make sure that both Disk 0 and Disk 1 are selected in the next dialog and click OK.
7. In the next window click Convert. You will receive a message that says After you convert these disks to dynamic, you will not be able to start other installed operating systems from any volume on these disks. Are you sure you want to convert?.
8. Click Yes. You will receive a message saying File systems on any of the disks to be converted will be dismounted. Do you want to continue this operation?. 
9. Click Yes. You will be prompted that you must restart your computer.
10. Click OK to restart your computer.
11. Open the Disk Management window again. It will indicate that your disk drives are Dynamic.

12. Right-click on Disk 0 or Disk 1 and select New Volume…. The New Volume Wizard will appear.
13. Click Next. A window will appear prompting you to Select the volume you want to create.
14. Select Striped as shown in the screen capture and click Next.
15. Add Disks 0 and Disk 1 to the Selected list.

16. Choose the size of each disk you wish to use for the new striped disk
17. Click Next.
18. Choose the drive letter to assign to the drive and click Next.
19. Choose an NTFS file system, select Perform a quick format (to save time) and click Next.

20. Click Finish on the next window.

You should now see a striped disk in the Computer Management window with the sum capacity of the two areas on the disks that were selected to make the striped array, see the screen capture" There will also remain an area of unallocated space on Disk 1 if the two unused areas did not match in size. You may format this and use it as additional storage.
 

Additional Information

• Windows 2000 and Windows XP have the ability to create RAID volumes between multiple hard drives within software. 
• Before configuring a software RAID array, it is important to note that Windows 2000/XP cannot run from the software RAID. You must run the operating system from a separate partition. Create a partition on which to install Windows that is big enough for the Windows installation and applications that will be needed (in this example, we use 5GB which is enough room for the Windows XP Professional installation with 1.83GB remaining).
• You must be the Administrator of the system to set up a RAID Array.